


Camp Santa Maria

by haveyouseenmyuser



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: It's just easier to picture, M/M, Probably American High School, Summer Camp AU, anyway they're like 24 ish now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12134997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haveyouseenmyuser/pseuds/haveyouseenmyuser
Summary: “The fucking buses didn’t drive and the cab driver dropped me off a fucking mile back. This is horrible.” The short boy complains, “This place seems to have fallen off the surface of the earth.”“It’s, um,” Harry thinks of the right word, “Secluded? Here, let me grab your bag.”He leans down and grabs one of the bags before looking up to the boy. Oh God. Oh my fucking God. This is undoubtedly Louis Tomlinson. The Louis Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson who walked around school and got fucking adored by everyone because he was the sole reason the soccer team won anything, ever. Louis Tomlinson with the pretty eyes and the elfish looks. Louis Tomlinson who was dating Elody, then Immy, then Tracy, then some girls Harry never even bothered listening about from the corridor gossip, because chances were they were not going to make it to the end of the week. Prom king Louis Tomlinson.//OR A Louis and Harry summer camp AU. None of it is real; this has been concocted for entertainment purposes. I do hope you enjoy.





	1. Chapter 1

_Well, this is far cry from civilisation._ It’s not as if he’s expected a four star resort or anything, but this camp, what’s it called again, does not look like the one featured on the cover of his informational booklet. He glances down once more, to verify that he’s actually arrived at the right destination and his cab driver hasn’t made some terrible mistake. Sure enough, there it is, black letters on a yellow background. _Camp Santa Maria – we make your summer more fun!_ It’s a lousy slogan, he thinks. He figures he could have come up with something better, something with a joke, maybe. Perhaps he should make a career out of that, instead of desperately trying to find a job within education. Or acting. Anything that kind of uses the degree he put himself into debts for. Harry Styles _, Master of Puns. Harry Styles, Master in Puns._ He chuckles at his own train of thought, and gets out of the cab, looking at the wooden entrance of this place suspiciously.

 

“It’s seen better days.” A male voice sounds from behind him.

 

The cab driver grabs his luggage from the trunk and sets it down on the sandy road before nodding at the entrance. It’s created a small opening in a mass of trees, and Harry is somewhat worried that he’s got to make his way through the woods by himself, considering the fact that these fir trees are definitely blocking most of the sunlight.

 

“Do you know, where um -”

 

“The administration office?” The man interrupts, “If you go through that gate there, it’s on your right. A hundred metres or so. I’d drop you off, but vehicles aren’t allowed on the premises.”

 

“That’s alright.” Harry smiles, “Thanks a bunch, bro.”

 

“$17.81.” He holds out the palm of his hand, looking at the watch on his wrist.

 

“Oh, okay.” He reaches into the back pocket of his shorts, his fingers grasping his wallet. _Not one for pleasantries then._ He counts out 18 and hands it to the man, who sighs and gets back to the front of the car without saying anything else, “Bye!” Harry calls after him as he revs the engine.

 

 _Alright. Camp Santa Maria, here I come._ His luggage weighs heavier than when he left home, but that’s purely due to his ever expanding collection of beanies he decided to buy before coming out here. Does a camp counsellor need eight different beanies for monitoring a bunch of fourteen year olds? Probably not, but there’s nothing wrong with being stylish. The forest feels chilly as soon as he walks in, although he’s pleased to find the administration office being in the exact same spot the cab driver told him it would be.

 

“Oh, hi!”

 

“Jesus Chr-” He jumps as a male voice sounds from behind him. _What is it with people sneaking up on me?_ “Sorry.” He smiles at the brown haired boy in front of him, “Hi.”

“You’re one of the new camp counsellors, aren’t you?” The boy extends his hand, “Liam. Payne. I’m kind of in charge of the administration in here.”

“Ah.” Harry shakes the boy’s hand, somewhat taken back by the formality of this, “Sorry, you just seem,” He pauses, “Young to run this camp? I mean, we must be the same age.”

“Oh, no.” The boy reaches for the duffel bag that Harry has put down on the ground, “Sean’s the boss over here. Sean Espinosa? He’s currently in a meeting with his brother; the kids are only arriving tomorrow, you see. Gives us some well-needed time to prep!” Liam sounds excited. “Most of the counsellors have already arrived. What did you say your name was?”

 

“Styles. Harry Styles.”

 

“Yeah, I think that you are one of the last ones. We have one more cabin for staff, which you will share with two other counsellors.” Liam picks up his bag and starts walking further down the path, ignoring the administration office completely, “You’re the first one in there, though. You get dibs on the bed choice.” He winks.

 

Harry loves this camp already.

 

-

 

So it turns out that staff cabins don’t come with enough dressing space for him to lay out his beanies. They soon get shoved back into the suitcase he’s brought, as he tries to figure out where he’s going to put his shorts for now. He looks around, contemplating possibilities as he hears Liam’s voice outside of his cabin once more, this time accompanied by someone else.

 

“Here you go!” Liam opens up the door, “One of your fellow counsellors just arrived twenty minutes ago.” He adds, stepping inside, “This is Harry.”

 

Harry turns to the door to see a blonde walk into the cabin, loaded with luggage. _Oh Christ._

 

“God, is it just me or is it insanely hot in here? Might be just me, though.” He smirks, “Oh, hi.”

 

They make eye contact, and Harry can’t believe this. At all.

 

“Niall?” He questions, frowning, “You’re Niall Horan, right?”

 

“Yes?” The blonde eyes him suspiciously, “How do you – do I owe you money or something?”

 

“No,” Harry grins, “Don’t you remember me? Harry Styles? We went to high school together! I was in Ms. Roberts’ class when you were - I can’t remember.” He crosses the room, “But you were definitely – I mean, you went to Davisons, right?”

 

“Yeah.” The older boy squints at him, “Wait. Aren’t you,” He pauses, “Harry?”

“Yeah!” Harry exclaims, “Yeah! Harry Styles!”

 

“Right. I’ll leave you two to unpack.” Liam sighs, “There’s only one more boy who we’re waiting for, but he’s due to arrive soon. I’ll send him your way. Oh, and there’s a meeting at seven. Just some basic guidelines and rules and all that. See you guys in a bit!”

 

“Bye!” Niall yells after Liam before slamming the door shut, “Right. Which bed is yours?”

 

He looks at Harry, who immediately points to the bed near the window, “Right, okay. I’ll take,” Niall looks in between the two other ones, “This one.” He throws a bag down upon it, “Shit, those things look as comfy as the ones in the military.”

 

 _Military. Oh wow. Harry_  feels a smirk creep into the corner of his mouth.

 

“Did you go into the military?” He asks, “Weren’t you the president of the band club?”

 

“ _And_ the glee club.” Niall adds, “But yeah, that did not really work out well. I did get a bachelor’s degree in music though. Then decided I wanted some action.”

 

 _What a weird career turn that is._ Harry thinks to himself, although it’s probably inappropriate to point that out to someone you vaguely recognise from your past, six years ago. He’s here for work experience and social skills so perhaps becoming friends with Niall implies that you don’t ask him stupid questions after sharing a cabin with him for five minutes.

 

“So, er, what do you do nowadays?” Niall looks up at him again, “Weren’t you that one kid that took literally every single music class there was?”

 

“Not _every_ class.” Harry chews the inside of his cheek. Why is this even making him feel nervous, “I dropped out of Band.” He admits, “But I did do Music Theory and Music. And Guitar.”

 

“Theory-what now?”

 

“Music Theory?” Harry repeats, “Um. Music stuff.”

 

“Ah.” Niall couldn’t look less impressed, nor interested, “So what, you’re like a musician now?”

 

“Actually, I got a degree in Music.” Harry can’t help but feeling slightly accomplished as he mentions this.

 

“That’s _great_.” Niall pauses for an instant, “So, you’re a musician now?”

 

“Well, I mean, I _could_ be.” The taller boy runs his hand through his hair and puts a beanie on, “I’m actually looking for a job in education, but it’s hard to find a decent position. So I figured that I may as well be a camp counsellor for a month. You know, help some kids out, get some skills. Can only help me down the line, right?”

 

“You’ve thought this through.” Niall reaches for his rucksack and grabs his flask, “Say, Has, do you reckon we can drink at night?”

-

 

It’s close to nine when the two boys make their way back to their cabin. It’s already become quite dark , and despite his initial reluctance against being by himself in the middle of nowhere, Harry does think that a walk is possibly a good idea. _Physical and mental strength are the foundations of success._ That’s from a book, he thinks. One of the small amount of books he’s read. Niall has declined his offer to tag along, and although he isn’t sure, he thinks the blonde even snorted at his suggestion. But that doesn’t matter, or at least not very much. What matters is that he is now at peace, in this impeccable piece of nature. He walks for about five minutes until he gets to the entrance again. _May as well stroll next to the road for a bit._  It’s lighter out here and maybe there are some things they can do aside of camp, in the next four weeks.

 

“Son of a fucking bitch.”

 

Harry looks at the silhouette walking up the road, towards him. First he notices nothing but toned legs and tiny, _tiny_ shorts, but then his eyes dart up to slender arms and soft brown hair falling loosely from the boy’s head and he swears he recognises this sight. _He looks familiar._

 

“Hey!” He greets the stranger, “Can I help you out with these? You’re here for camp, right?”

 

“The fucking buses didn’t drive and the cab driver dropped me off a fucking mile back. This is horrible.” The short boy complains, “This place seems to have fallen off the surface of the earth.”

“It’s, um,” Harry thinks of the right word, “Secluded? Here, let me grab your bag.”

He leans down and grabs one of the bags before looking up to the boy. Oh God. Oh my fucking God. This is undoubtedly Louis Tomlinson. The Louis Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson who walked around school and got fucking adored by everyone because he was the sole reason the soccer team won anything, ever. Louis Tomlinson with the pretty eyes and the elfish looks. Louis Tomlinson who was dating Elody, then Immy, then Tracy, then some girls Harry never even bothered listening about from the corridor gossip, because chances were they were not going to make it to the end of the week. Prom king Louis Tomlinson.

 

“You look familiar.” Louis squints at him, “Did we work together at the movie theatre?”

 

“Um, no.” Harry tries, “But we went to high school together. Harry Styles?” He flashes the smaller boy a warm smile, “We were in the same chemistry class. And I think we had math and English together, too.”

 

“Oh yeah, Harry!? Didn’t you date that senior girl when we were freshman?”

 

“No, no. We were just friends. But, yeah, that’s me.” Harry grins, “This is _awesome_!” He exclaims, “You know, we never really got to know each other in high school, did we? Probably because it was so busy, with like, being high school and all. Oh God, this is exciting, isn’t it!”

 

“Sure is.” Louis sighs, walking a few feet behind Harry.

 

Harry _swears_ he can hear Louis mumble something along the lines of ‘hellhole’ and ‘big mistake’ and ‘there is no God’, but he decides not to pursue that line of conversation. He’s probably misunderstood it, too. Cause well, this is camp. Camp is fun. And since Louis signed up to be a counsellor, just like himself, the boy is probably just a tad bit off with getting lost before he even got to the camp. That’s understandable, isn’t it?

 

“You are never going to believe the odds, but do you remember that one guy in freshman year? The blonde who was the president of the glee club and the band club? Niall? He’s here _too_ . This is like a high school reunion!” Harry grins, “Louis, this is going to be one _great_ camp, bro!”

 

There is no reply, but perhaps Louis is just busy focussing his mental and physical ability to get his luggage to his new home for the next month. Again, this is sensible. Harry likes that. He knows for a fact that this is going to be _great._ Niall and Louis and him bonding. This promises to be nothing less but epic. Epic. Emphasis on epic. Liam is at the administration office as Harry waves at him. Louis still behind him, Harry points at the boy who’s struggling to keep up.

 

“I found the last counsellor, I think!” Harry grins, “He was a mile away.”

 

“Well, you missed the meeting.” Liam looks at the boy, not very impressed, “Louis Tomlinson, right?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Okay, well. You are sharing a cabin with Harry and Niall.” Liam turns to the taller boy, “I reckon you can explain the guidelines and all, right?”

 

“Sure!” Louis gives him a thumbs up, “Come on then, Louis!”

 

As he walks up to the cabin, it’s obvious that Niall is up and about, because some very weird music is blaring from within. _Is that New Kids On The Block?_ Harry ignores the urge to grin at this and walks up the small path up to their cabin with Harry in tow. Who would have known out of all the places in the world, and all the people that could have been at camp, he’d be reunited with two people he vaguely recognised from his high school past. Perhaps he wasn’t the most socially active kid back in the day, but he was here now, and he was going to make it count.

 

“Nialler!” Harry smirks as he opens the door of the cabin, “Look who I found!”

 

“Who’s that?” Niall frowns as Louis walks in, dropping his backpack on the floor the second he sets foot inside.

 

“ _Niall_!” Harry feigns shock, “That’s Louis Tomlinson!” He points at Louis as if his point was not obvious enough, “Prom king! Football team! Surely you remember him!” He frowns, “Come on, Ni.”

 

“Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry.” Niall lays down on his bed, “You’ve got that bed, by the way.” He points at the bed closest to the door, “Try to unpack quickly, yeah. I’d like to get some sleep.” He turns to Harry, “PTSD, you know.”

 

Harry nods, unsure what the appropriate reaction to such information might be. He sits down on the edge of his bed and grabs his notebook from his back pocket. Clicking a pen, he presses the ballpoint to the paper and looks at his two roommates for a second.

 

_I have been reacquainted with two people I had frankly never expected to see ever again. Sean and Liam are absolutely lovely, and those other counsellors I met today are a total hoot, especially that quirky kid Nick. We’re gonna get along great. Niall’s suffering from PTSD and Louis seems tired because he keeps sighing while he unpacks. Anyway, very long story short – I have arrived at Camp Santa Maria. This is just awesome._


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi all,  
> let me know if you liked it.

Louis didn’t think it was possible to wake up in this level of bad mood. But here he is, defying expectation and known social norms  _ once again. _

 

The camp bed is massively uncomfortable, and Louis has a feeling that the other two must have checked all of them, and left him with the one least conducive to a good night’s sleep. It’s what he would have done.

 

When he rolls over, he can see the daylight, filtering beneath the door frame, which means it is nearly dawn, which means this poorly thought through idea has to start becoming a reality.

 

It was his mom’s idea, really. And Louis just hadn’t created a good enough excuse to avoid it.

 

Because Louis didn’t have anything to do this summer, and needed the cash. It turns out that some early success, and appearing in one Adidas ad, didn’t mean that you were set up for life, and he’s struggled to book anything, recently. And so his mom had contacted Sean Espinosa, a family friend, and had requested a favor, and so here he was.

 

What he hadn’t anticipated, and would have made up a hell of a good excuse, something along the lines of malaria, or an allergy to grass, had he known, was that he’d be sharing with Harry Styles and Niall Horan.

 

Harry Styles, who seems to be the same annoying, enthusiastic kid he remembered from school. The one who always knew the answer to the teacher’s questions. The one with the ability to do a class presentations without transforming into a quivering wreck. The one who thought it was cool to try and be friends with everyone. The one who would say really honest things, like  _ that top really suits you,  _ or,  _ amazing job at the track meet, well done!,  _ and was generally far too sincere and made all of Louis’ social defenses go up.

 

And then, to top it,  _ Niall  _ Horan.

 

The lunatic who accidentally set fire to a bin.

 

According to the rumors, at least, but when asked Niall had always just confirmed it, and those are not the patterns of a person he can trust.

 

…

He showers early, because Louis thinks this might be his last chance of feeling clean while out in this goddamn forest, and walks back from the shower blocks to his cabin slowly, turning things over in his mind. The sun is out, which is about the only positive that Louis can find.

 

The problem was that Lottie, the little shit, had somehow managed to carve herself a niche in the entertainment industry without even trying. Or at least, on the outskirts of the entertainment industry.

 

Their mom had been so delighted, and proud, as Lottie had explained over dinner that yes, Youtube would actually  _ pay  _ her for her rambles into the camera. People would watch, and the advertising revenue would come in, and youtube would hand her a cut of it. And so now, because she had nearly one hundred thousand followers, and  _ growing _ , she had enough coming in to support herself.

 

_ Goddammit,  _ anyone could do that! Louis could do that. But no, instead, here he is, out in the wild. Surrounded by nature and people who he really doesn’t want to spend any social time with. And then there are going to be children turning up, fourteen year olds who think they’re adults, and dear god, he feels like he has entered hell.

 

When he sneaks the door open, hoping that Harry and Niall are still asleep, he’s greeted by music, and ugh.

 

“Morning Louis! Good idea with the early shower – how were they?”

 

Louis flaps a hand, and sets his towel and wash bag on his bed, uncertain where to look because Harry seems to be doing lunges, or something.

 

“Oh. Um. They were okay, I guess. No visible diseases in them, so, you know. Bonus.”

 

Harry grins, and nods at him, before abruptly starting to do star-jumps to the beat of the Beyonce tune he has blaring out of his phone, and oh good god, what is happening?

 

Niall is still in his bed, which is slightly more acceptable to Louis’ mind that the small floor routine Harry is going through. What isn’t acceptable is what Niall is doing. Niall seems to notice that Louis is staring at him, disbelieving, after a second, and looks away from the tiny hand held mirror.

 

“Yes?”

 

“No, um…” Louis stutters, and frowns, before pointing vaguely at Niall’s face. “I was just… what are you doing?”

 

Niall sighs, as if it should be obvious why he has really dark streaks of green, black, and brown grease paint over his face.

 

“It’s camouflage paint. We don’t know what we are dealing with, out there.”

 

Sitting down on his bed, because he feels like he needs a bit of support, Louis glances once at Harry, before laughing, hesitantly.

 

“Umm, breakfast, I hoped?”

 

Niall gives him a look, as if to say  _ that sort of sloppy thinking is the reason why you aren’t going to survive _ , and Harry jumps into the conversation, sentences arriving between every other push up.

 

“Niall is the camp’s survival expert, right? He’s got military experience, which he is going to share with the kids. Teach them how to track enemies and make emergency shelters in a thunderstorm and stuff. Right Niall?”

 

Niall tilts his head to one side, and then closes his mirror with a snap.

 

“Exactly. And now if you two will excuse me, I’m going to go see if I can track down an enemy coffee, because Harry, the routine is exhausting just to watch.”

 

Harry stopped immediately, looking apologetic, but Niall is already out of bed, shuffling out of the door in slippers, pyjamas and a hoodie, and a  _ full set of war paint. _

 

Harry glances at Louis, and shrugs.

 

“I remember him being kooky, don’t you? He seems awesome though, the kids will love him. Do you… do you mind if I keep going?”

 

Louis shakes his head, because hopefully if Harry is doing that, he won’t try and talk to him. Then he remembers that maybe this experience will be better if he at least tries to be friendly with the people he has to live with for eight weeks, and so makes an effort.

 

“At least he wasn’t setting fire to anything, right?”

 

Harry looks at him, nonplussed, and then shrugs.

 

“Umm. Yeah, sure?”

 

Louis frowns, and then sets about packing away his things, because he doesn’t want to see that he is blushing, regretting the joke that clearly Harry didn’t understand.

 

It can’t just be him that remembers that? He thought everyone knew about Niall setting fire to a classroom?

 

…

 

Louis’ primary task is working for Liam, who seems to have come to the conclusion, after the terrible first impression Louis made last night, that Louis is entirely incompetent.

 

He doesn’t mind. He thinks he might be.

 

“Okay, so in this filing cabinet we have a list of their medical details, emergency contact numbers and dietary requirements, so that’s where you head in case of any problems. And over here is your desk, which…”

 

Louis’ job is answering the phone to anxious parents, the first person anyone from the outside world speaks to. Liam gives him a short briefing on how to speak to another human without giving them the impression that their child might be dead, and then leaves him to it.

 

Sighing, Louis checks his cell phone. No signal.  _ Great. _

 

He spends most of the morning staring out of the window, watching cars pull up and spit out kids, with over-sized backpacks and fresh out of the box hiking boots on. Harry and another tall boy are out there, taking names and handing out passes. Harry hugs every single child that he greets, and after twenty minutes, the boy, Louis thinks he might be called Nick, he was briefly introduced at breakfast, starts hugging them too, and ugh. 

 

Niall is nowhere to be seen. Louis pictures him hiding behind a tree somewhere, possibly practising bird calls or digging a bear trap, or whatever army types do.

 

After a moment, Sean walks in, who Louis recognizes from when he was a lot younger. He jumps up automatically, and holds his hand out for him to shake.

 

Sean greets him warmly, and asks how his journey over was.

 

“Oh, god, yeah, terrible. Sorry I was so late. If Harry, one of the other counsellors hadn’t found me, I’d probably be still out there now. Me and nature do not get on.”

 

John gives him a bit of a peculiar look, and Louis curses inwardly, because he’s taken a job that surrounds him by nature, dammit. It’s like taking a job as a life guard and then claiming a deep fear of water.

 

“Okay, well, hopefully you’ll get used to it. Could I ask you to go and help greet the kids, just during the rush? I’ll man the desk, and try and get some paper work done at the same time. Great to see you again Louis.”

 

Well, he was very nice as well. Louis can tell that he is going to spend two months surrounded by positive, upbeat people, which is going to be  _ exhausting. _

 

As he walks to the main yard, Niall appears, as if from his nightmares, from behind a cabin.

 

“Psst. Louis! Over here.”

 

Louis contemplates claiming a case of mistaken identity, but trudges over, ducking behind the cabin. Niall gives him a once up and down.

 

“Are you still the boring drama nerd I remember?”

 

Louis riles, because he may not have spent his childhood accidentally setting fire to things and generally being the loudest, weirdest kid in school, but that didn’t mean that he was boring.

 

“Umm,  _ no _ , but I wasn’t boring in school, thank you.”

 

Niall waves away his protests, and he  _ still  _ has camouflage paint on, and who even does that?

 

“Whatever, just checking. Look, I got you a coffee.”

 

Louis takes it, because Niall isn’t giving him much choice, but holds it away from him, as if it is about explode.

 

“Yeah? Oh. Um, thank you.”

 

“Oh, you will. Taste it.”

 

Rapidly calculating the odds of Niall trying to poison him, Louis sniffs suspiciously at it, and then takes a tiny, tiny sip.

 

Wait…

 

“Does this… have you put alcohol in it?”

 

Niall grins at him, and waves a hip flask in Louis’ direction. It sounds full. Louis’ eyes widen.

 

“Just a little bit of Baileys. Just to get the juices flowing. Go on then, Tommo. Go interact with the children. And don’t tell Harry, he’ll freak out.”

 

Louis thinks about asking what useful activity Niall is doing, behind a cabin with a hipflask, but thinks better of it. Niall reads his mind anyway.

 

“I’m just getting a feel for the lay of the land, you know. Those toe rags are going to experience a game of hide and seek like they’ve never known before.”

 

Louis backs away slightly, raising his coffee in gratitude, and heads towards Harry and Nick. He’s pretty sure that drinking on the job, while parents hand over their children into his care, is a certain way to get fired.

 

He finds he doesn’t mind though. The coffee tastes good.

 

…

 

There’s a staff meeting that night, for the Blue shift, which is what himself, Harry and Niall are on. Red shift are keeping the kids entertained, while Blue shift get to eat, and discuss the next few days.

 

Louis attempts to enter late, and sit at the back, but Harry seems to be keeping some kind of look out, and waves him over, and Louis can hardly fake temporary blindness.

 

He sits cautiously, and Harry rubs him on the back in greeting, before patting him on the knee and flinging an arm around his shoulders to squeeze, and  _ what is with all the touching? _

 

“You’re very touchy.”

 

“Sorry, just excited to see you.”

 

Harry literally saw him half an hour ago. Louis thinks about mentioning this, but Harry carries on, before he can mention it.

 

“Isn’t this cool though! The next few days sounds awesome; there’s raft building and trust exercises and some camp cooking – it sounds a blast! Do you know what you are down for?”

 

Louis shrugs.

 

“I go wherever they tell me. I think I’m mainly on the desk though; answering calls. Might be for the best, I’m not great with kids”

 

Harry shakes his head.

 

“Nah, I’m sure if you ask they’ll rotate you. Also, you were fine with kids, they all loved your whole _ , careless jokester, _ routine.”

 

Harry is doing something weird with his hands, and is that what he looks like?

 

“What routine? There was no routine.”

 

Harry drops his hands, and looks at him, uncomprehending.

 

“Oh. Wait, really?”

 

Oh, fucking hell. This day could not be going any worse.

 

But then Niall walks over, and sits down with them, and well, don’t speak too soon, Tomlinson.

 

“Harry. Louis. How were your days?”

 

Harry claps his hands together once, in excitement.

 

“Awesome, I had an excellent time! The kids seem great, man, I can’t wait to get to know them better. But where were you? Liam was looking for you earlier.”

 

Niall gestures towards his face, where the face paint is entirely smeared, and appears to be creeping down his neck.

 

“I was there. Just, you know. Blending into the surroundings. I like to keep my stealth skills sharply honed, you never know when they’re going to be needed.”

 

Harry nods, as if Niall is talking anything other than complete bullshit, and then Sean on stage calls for their attention.

 

“Alright guys, day one done- great job!”

 

The twenty five or so people in the room whoop and cheer, as Niall takes a long sip of coffee and Louis panics about whether he has accidentally joined a cult.

 

“This meeting is going to go through the schedule for the next week, and some of the safety procedures, which are important, so try not to fall asleep. After that, we’re going to do some getting to know you exercises, and have a bit of team building. Sound good?”

 

Harry shouts “yeah!” enthusiastically next to him, and Louis leans away from him imperceptibly, trying not to be noticed.

 

Niall leans into him at that point, causing Louis to automatically swerve away, but that would take him back to leaning towards Harry, and  _ is nowhere safe? _

 

“Fucking team building exercises. Every man for himself, I say. Want some coffee?”

 


End file.
